Of Lost Sleep and Bad Soup
by ForTheGun
Summary: To Zoro, it was worth all of the lost sleep and bad soup in the world. ZoSan. Can be viewed as a pairing, but doesn't have to be. T for language.


A/N: Hey guys, long time no see. Perhaps some of you have noticed that I just kind of dropped off of the face of the earth. I've been very busy lately. Life and dance school got in the way, and I haven't had a lot of time to write. But, right now, I'm sitting in bed with a fever and other unpleasant symptoms of some kind of cold or flu or whatever, and I have the opportunity to write! So, time for the rotten tomatoes, cuz it's not Grelliam.

For some odd reason, it's One Piece. (One of my first animes. We watched it in Japanese with subs when I was learning how to read. Ah, good times. My sister recently told me that I used to be IN ABSOLUTE LOVE with Sanji when I was little. We always ran around the house saying, "OL' GEEZAH" in Brooklyn accents because of that godawful 4Kids dub that I still love even though it's horrible. I repeat, good times. I looked him up a couple months ago, and all I can say is: GO LITTLE ME. YOU HAD A VERY FINE TASTE IN ANIME GENTLEMEN.)

BUT REALLY, SOMEBODY INSPIRE ME TO WRITE GRELLIAM. I KNOW MORE THAN HALF THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOW ME FOLLOW ME BECAUSE OF GRELLIAM.

Anyway, some ZoSan friendship fluffy shit because I have writers block and I'm about to pass out due to a big dose of NyQuil. I was inspired to do this because I'm sick, and my One Piece feels have been hurting recently. I'm sure that this has been done before, and I'm sorry to anyone who's written something similar to this. I wasn't trying to steal your idea!

Sorry for the long ass author's note. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ONE PIECE OR SANJI OR ZORO OR ANYTHING ELSE. LEAVE ME ALONE XD

~And with that said, let this epic tale begin...!~

(HAAAZAR!)

It was early one sunny midsummer morning. Things were relatively silent around the ship, which was quite odd, for it was around the time when the ship's flirtatious chef normally got started on breakfast for the still-sleeping crew. The sound of pots and pans clanking in the kitchen mingling with the soft humming of the cook normally floated throughout the ship in the early hours, putting smiles on the dozing inhabitants' faces, for the sound signified the start of a bright new day.

But not that day.

For some unexplained reason, the sound of metallic cookware and joyous singing was absent. The first to notice this peculiar silence was, of course, the always-hungry captain of the ship. Luffy jumped down from the hammock he had previously been situated on, and decided to investigate the ruckus- or rather, the lack of.

He was shocked to notice that the cook-in-question was still in the room, sound asleep on his makeshift bed (which in all actuality was nothing more than some blankets and a pillow on the wooden floor). He approached the blonde, about to tell him off for sleeping on the job when there was meat to be cooked, when he heard the man emit a very hoarse, weak sounding cough, immediately followed by a sniffle.

This stopped the young captain dead in his tracks, blinking curiously at Sanji as he groaned and pulled a blanket over his head, shielding himself from the world. Luffy then ran up to the hammock containing Usopp and flipped it over, successfully dumping the long-nosed sniper onto the floor. He awoke with a start, releasing a strangled shout as his face made contact with the floor. He sat up angrily and looked up at Luffy as he put a hand to his now-throbbing head. "Hey! What was that for!?"

To this, Luffy put a finger to his lips in a shushing manner, causing the sniper to shoot him a questioning look. "It's Sanji!" he whispered. When Usopp made no reply, he helped him up and led him to the blonde's bedside. Usopp looked at the curled up figure hidden under the blanket and then back at his captain. He repeated this gesture several more times until he finally spoke up. "So?"

As if to reply to Usopp's one word question, Luffy crouched down to Sanji's level and, with all the gentleness of a viper, pulled the burgundy blanket away from the chef's face. The long-nosed boy gasped at the sight of the poor cook.

There lay Sanji, and a most pitiable sight he was. His normally pale white cheeks were now splotched with red, most certainly from a fever, while the closed eye not obstructed from view by messy blonde hair was adorned with a slightly dark, sickly discoloration, almost looking as if he had been recovering from a black eye. His normally smirking pink lips were now pale and parted, for his nasal passages were too clogged up for him to be able to breath otherwise. A thin layer of sweat coated his pale flesh, completing the image of an utterly pathetic and ill Sanji.

"Oh my gosh! He looks horrible!" Usopp exclaimed, completely forgetting that they were supposed to be as quiet as possible for the sake of not waking the rest of the ship. Quickly realizing his mistake, he slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent any more loud, unnecessary noises. Thankfully, Usopp's accidental shout fell on deaf ears, and nobody was awoken by the sudden but brief noise. He moved his hand from his mouth and whispered to his rubbery companion, "What should we do?"

Luffy put his hand to his chin in deep thought. What should they do? Hmmm... Maybe they should wake up Chopper and have him take a look at him. He is the ship's doctor, after all... Or...

A sudden gasp erupted from from Luffy, followed by his trademark grin as he said in a voice that was too loud to be a whisper, "I've got it!" Usopp leaned in, eagerly waiting for his friend to announce his oh-so-great idea. "Let's ask Zoro! He'll know what to do!"

Luffy jumped to his feet and bounded over to the small sofa where Zoro often slept, only to find it empty.

...

"ZORO! ZORO, WAKE UP!"

The green haired man cracked open an eye to find his captain leaning over him. He let out a long groan. "Go away."

"Zoro! Get up! It's Sanji!" Luffy attempted to shake the man awake, but this earned him an annoyed glare from the tanned swordsman. He'd fallen asleep on the floor in the dining room, right in front of a window where the sun's rays shone peacefully down onto the wooden floor. How he'd gotten there, no one even bothered to ask.

"What about him?" he grunted.

"He's dying!" Usopp cried.

"Liar."

"No! He's telling the truth!" Luffy exclaimed, "He's really dying!"

"See if I care."

"Zoro!"

"Fine! I'm up!"

...

Luffy all but dragged Zoro to the men's quarters, vividly explaining the oh-so-horrible condition their blonde cook was in- exaggerated hand gestures and all. Zoro decided to play along, though he highly doubted it was half as bad as Usopp and Luffy told him it was. Probably just a stuffy nose. Nothing the cook couldn't handle on his own.

Though, once they entered the room and Zoro got a good look at Sanji, he immediately began to rethink his assumptions, and realized that perhaps the two trouble makers weren't exaggerating as much as he thought they were. The blonde did indeed look like hell. What, with his mussed hair, flushed face, and dark circles, Zoro couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the guy, no matter how much of an ass he was.

Zoro suddenly turned to the two young pirates. "Why did you wake me up about it and not Chopper? What am I supposed to do about him?" he snapped.

Luffy and Usopp exchanged glances, then looked back at the swordsman. "Make him better." they said in unison.

Zoro spoke through gritted teeth. "And how do you propose I do tha-"

"What are you morons doing?"

He was interrupted as another voice entered the conversation. A voice that was weak and hoarse, and barely more than a whisper. All three of them looked down at Sanji, who seemed to have awoken while they weren't paying attention.

Luffy was the first to speak. "Sanji! You're alive! Thank goodness! Now you can make breakfa-"

"WHAT? HE CAN'T COOK! HE'S DYING, REMEMBER?" utter disbelief was written all over Usopp's face.

"But, I'm hungry!" Luffy whined. Apparently, all respect for the other sleeping crew members had been thrown out the window long ago, and they were back to being loud and obnoxious.

As the two continued to bicker, Zoro merely brought a hand to his face and sighed, and Sanji wanted nothing more than to crawl back under the covers and die in peace and quiet. The childish arguing continued for another 5 minutes, before Sanji just decided, 'Screw it.' and said, "Fine, fine! I'll get up and make breakfast! Just stop yelling!" he attempted to sit up, only to be pushed back down by the damned marimo.

"Oi, you need to rest." Zoro stated.

"What, are you my mother now? You can't tell me what to do, shitty marimo." Sanji glared at the larger man. This guy was really pissing him off! Acting like he held some kind of authority over him! Sanji reached into the jacket that was sitting beside his 'bed' and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, which Zoro immediately snatched from his grasp. "Hey!"

"No smoking! Listen to you! You sound like someone ran a knife up and down your throat!" the swordsman scolded. This made Sanji sit back and glare. The silence that followed was unnerving, and the angry aura that the chef emitted was so strong that it was almost visible. Finally, Zoro mumbled, "Oi, don't sulk like that, ero-cook. It's for your own good." he reached out to the cook, but, Sanji wouldn't hear it.

He looked away, avoiding eye contact with the green-haired man, severely pissed. The only thing he said was, "Whatever."

Zoro sighed. "Fine. Be that way. I'm still not letting you smoke in this condition." and with that, he stood up, pocketed the cigarettes, and walked away, uncaring that Usopp and Luffy had stopped arguing some time ago and followed quietly behind as he left the room.

...

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Luffy questioned as he followed Zoro all the way to the kitchen. He grinned widely. "Are you lost? The bathroom's that wa-"

"I'm not lost, stupid." Zoro glared daggers at the rubber man. "I'm going to cook."

Both Luffy and Usopp's jaws dropped at this statement. "Cook!?" Usopp exclaimed, "Sanji'll have your head if you lay a finger on his kitchen!"

"Whatever. His sorry ass will be thanking me once I'm through."

...

"Hey."

Sanji looked up at the voice, only to find the last person he wanted to talk to, and looked disinterestedly back down at the book in his hands. "What do you want." it was more of a statement than it was a question. He had since been moved to a hammock, as insisted by Chopper, and was currently huddled up in a bunch of blankets, reading some book that he was going to pretend was more interesting than the 'shitty marimo bastard'.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, I came here to apologize." stated Zoro.

Sanji snorted. "What for? Nothing to apologize for, so why don't you just go lift some weights or something."

"Don't be a jackass."

Sanji grunted.

"Here." The cook was surprised when the larger man slid a bowl on his lap.

He looked up at Zoro with questioning eyes. "What is this?"

"It's soup, blondie. For you." Zoro stated with a proud look on his face. So, the soup wasn't perfect, but at least he tried.

Sanji let the nickname slide with nothing more than a short, pointed glare, and asked, "Why?"

"Will you quit asking so many questions and just eat the damn soup?"

In all actuality, Sanji was scared to eat the soup. He never recalled Zoro cooking anything. Ever. Maybe grilling a piece of meat every now and then, but even that was only under Sanji's intense supervision. But, who knows. Perhaps the shitty swordsman was a good cook. And with that reassuring thought in mind, Sanji took a spoonful of the soup -now revealed to be chicken noodle- and took a bite. He chewed for a second, pondering the taste as Zoro looked at him with a hopeful expression. It was...

Horrible. The noodles were mushy and overcooked, and the chicken was rubbery and more than a little too pink inside. The broth was bland, tasting more like plain hot water than broth, and the food was just all around unpleasant.

But it was made with love, specially for him, so he continued to eat it, no matter how bad it tasted.

"So... how does it taste?" Zoro asked.

After Sanji choked down the chewed food in his mouth, he replied. "Well, to be frank, it tastes like shit. I mean, I cooked better things when I was 4."

"Okay, I know it's bad, but that's just mean." Zoro gave a hearty laugh, obviously not too upset that Sanji thought that his cooking was disgusting.

"If you knew it was bad, then why did you give it to me?" Sanji cringed as he took another bite, not willing to waste food.

"Because I thought that maybe it would make you feel better." he smiled in an amused manner when Sanji continued to eat, even though he admitted that it was horrible, "Look, curly brow, I'm sorry for taking your smokes, but it was for your own good. You wanna live to see All Blue, don't you?"

"... I suppose so." the sick man pulled his blankets closer around him as he ate his meal with no complaints. His cheeks were still flushed, and the skin under his visible eye was still dark, but all in all, he looked better than he did that morning, even if only a little. They sat in silence for a long time, and the amount of soup in the bowl slowly decreased as the minutes flew by. Finally, when the last drop was gone, he handed the bowl over to Zoro and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"What was that?" Zoro asked, not catching the quick mumbled words of his supposed friend.

"I said... thank you." the blonde spoke louder this time.

And, to Zoro, that was worth all the lost sleep and bad soup in the world.

Zoro grinned. "Anytime." he took the bowl and stood, making for the doorway, when he was stopped by a meek, sickly voice calling his name. Well... his nickname.

"Oi, marimo."

"Yes?"

"Let me do the cooking from now on."

...

A/N: So that was it.

OOC?

You bet your sorry ass.

Grammar mistakes?

Shit, son. (Please forgive me if there are.)

Even so, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for taking the time to read, and please drop a review if it strikes your fancy... Okay, I know that that probably isn't the real term, but whatever. Now, I feel like Sanji in this fanfiction, so I'm going to take a nap... For a couple hours. Then, I'm gonna wake up and eat cookies. That's how I roll. I LOVE YOU ALL.


End file.
